Gilead acquires Nimbus Apollo and its ACC program

US biotech giant Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Nimbus Apollo, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nimbus Therapeutics, and its acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) inhibitor program.

Nimbus Therapeutics, a Bill Gates backed drug developer, will receive an upfront payment of $400 million, with the potential for an additional $800 million in development-related milestones over time, making the deal worth a potential $1.2 billion.

The Nimbus Apollo program includes the lead candidate NDI-010976, an ACC inhibitor, and other preclinical ACC inhibitors for the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and for the potential treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and other diseases. NDI-010976 was granted Fast Track designation by the US Food and Drug Administration in February 2016 and Phase I data for the compound will be presented next month during an oral session at The International Liver Congress 2016, the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL).